Hi,

I have recently bought an old racing bike which has been repainted. It is fairly light and rides nicely. Although it is probably not anything special, to satisfy my own curiosity I would really like to find out where it was made, by whom and its approximate age. This might well be impossible to find out, but any help would be greatly appreciated. Here are the remaining nuggets of info still visible on the bike:

Frame: Steel with BCM (Bocama) lugs - these have the numbers 72 and 52 on two separate lugs.
Brakes: Weinmann Vainquer 750 on front, Raleigh 750 Weinmann on back. Weinmann centre-pull brake levers
Gears: Sachs Huret Eco rear mech, Suntour VX derailleur, Suntour gear levers
Seatpost: 25.4cm diameter
Stem: Alloy with SR printed on side
Serial Number: 738458

I reckon these components reflect the approximate age of the bike, so could be original. All the other components are new.

The bike has an old school stud on the fork where one would attach a light. It also has pump pegs on the frame. It has ESGE printed on the frame in two parts.

Cheers

Pics would help a great deal, but the fork boss for a lamp bracket would indicate English origins, and the relatively narrow seatpost indicates it's likely hi-ten steel. Where is the serial # imprinted? Certainly, that Raleigh brake caliper would suggest you have a Raleigh. How many holes are on the headtube to indicate that a headbadge used to be there?

Neal

Overall it appears to be a Peugot. I'd rather not submit an expanded over-view. Bocama lugs were used on Fench Bikes. VX rear changers were used on 1980 -1984 bikes of many origins of manufacture, in a priced bike from $300 to $450 at the time,Japnese bikes I own have VX so did bikes from all over the world to some degree,the deraileur could have been changed, I doubt it,you don't think so. The serial # 's not Japan,niether is the over-all "feel" I get from the imfo.It's a mixed bag but it's most likely an early '80s bike. Perhaps with more imfo. and more in-put from other members,you'll gain more insight. 25.4 seat tubes were used on a vast majority of bikes,you may want to ascertain which and when Peugot started using 25.4,older ones were thinner. Just to get it more exact.

Ok thanks. There are no holes on the headtube and the serial number is found on the underside of the crank.

Here are a few pictures of the bike:

https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/DSC01201.jpg

https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/DSC01188.jpg

https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/DSC01175.jpg

https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/DSC01169.jpg

Ed

Wow!
That's a really nice looking bike!